


Fragile, Handle With Care

by Anonim



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Relationship Study, not really hurt/not really comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 10:56:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21160529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anonim/pseuds/Anonim
Summary: "He wished that Gil were there, but he probably didn’t even know of the explosion yet, which left him, the least qualified person to deal with Bright’s traumatised ass, the only one there to deal with Bright’s traumatised ass."A study of Malcolm Bright through the eyes of JT Tarmel.





	Fragile, Handle With Care

**Author's Note:**

> One of my favourite things to write is the exploration of a character through the eyes of someone else, be it someone that's close to them and loves them dearly, or barely knows them and has little to nothing to do with them. My other favourite thing to write is whump. >:D

Yes, Malcolm Bright was weird and obnoxious, yes, he had still his reservations about him, and no, most of the time he couldn’t stand the guy, but that didn’t mean he hated him. And dammit, JT was a good guy at heart, and would never let anything bad happen to him, if for nothing else because he seemed to mean so much to Gil. And maybe there _was_ something to him, if a man like Gil trusted him so.

That’s why he looked out for him to the best of his abilities when on the job, despite Bright’s apparent disregard for his own safety. Someone had to, seeing as he refused to do it for himself.

The incident happened shortly after the two of them had arrived at the condemned building. Bright had waited for JT to clear all the rooms before he started looking around. JT had deemed that there wasn’t a realistic mortal threat to the kid’s life at the moment and decided to do his own looking-around a bit further away.

Just about a minute later, he found it. It wasn’t exactly the literal skeletons in the closet he was expecting, but it was comparable.

’Bright,’ he said, backing away from the cupboard beneath the stairs he had opened. ’We need to move. _Now._’

The red digits on the timer atop the device indicated 56 seconds left before detonation. JT backed further away from the bomb until he saw Bright’s petrified form one room over, standing over what looked like a large, open cooler box.

’Bright!’ He yelled again, but there was no response. Cursing under his breath, JT approached Bright, only catching sight of what was in the box as he spun him around by the shoulder.

It was a woman, dead, discoloured, half-frozen. JT didn’t have time to determine anything else about her. She couldn’t be helped, but Bright could. Bright, however, was shaking like a leaf, staring wide-eyed at the space in front of him, seemingly unresponsive to anything around him.

JT knew they lost several precious seconds and decided that snapping Bright out of it would cost them even more, so instead, with one smooth motion, he crouched down, pulled Bright over his shoulder and lifted him up. This, finally, caused Bright to make _some_ noise, something between a startled yelp and a confused hum, but before he could protest, JT started booking it towards the door and didn’t stop until they were almost halfway down the street, and the explosion went off.

All around them, windows shattered, and car alarms went off. The shockwave pushed JT a bit, but he’d been far enough away where it wasn’t forceful enough to knock him to the ground.

With Bright still slung over his shoulder he turned around to look at the damage. The explosion must have knocked out a loadbearing wall, as the floor above and the roof with it had caved in, bringing much of the exterior walls with them.

At last, JT set Bright - who was even lighter than he expected - down on the ground. Bright’s knees immediately buckled, but JT managed to hook his arms below his shoulders just in time, and slowly lowered him on the ground to his knees, he himself also taking a knee in front of him. Finally, Bright seemed to come out of whatever stupor he’d been in and looked up at JT.

If it wasn’t for the pure distress in those famous eyes, JT might have started yelling at him right then and there for freezing up like he had, but he recognised what this was. In the force, JT had seen that very same look on his fellow officers, on victims and witnesses alike. He knew Bright had seen his fair share of fucked up shit, he’d seen it too, but something in that body stuffed in that cooler must have struck a chord with him, because he was completely out of it. Well, Bright seemed to idle on “slightly out of it”, but this was still unusual.

‘Th-thanks,’ Bright muttered. His breathing was just a bit faster than normal, and shaky. In fact, JT noticed, he was trembling all over, arms wrapped tightly around himself. He sighed, took a moment to glance sideways and convince himself that there’s no shame in helping Bright, and shook off his jacket, draping it over the profiler’s shoulder. Bright was clearly surprised by the gesture, staring at JT with those wide eyes, this time with shocked amazement rather than the terror from earlier.

‘Yeah, don’t get used to it,’ JT muttered, turning away.

He wished that Gil were there, but he probably didn’t even know of the explosion yet, which left him, the least qualified person to deal with Bright’s traumatised ass, the only one there to deal with Bright’s traumatised ass.

JT took a moment to look back at the now burning building, and around at some of the civilians that saw the explosion. A teenager was filming it on his phone, a woman was going around asking people if they knew anything about the explosion, others were shouting, but most were just staring at the destroyed building with a mixture of shock and confusion.

The sound of sirens from afar cut through the city noise, and JT stood up to get a better look down the street. Just then, his phone rang. He had no doubts about who was calling, so he barely even looked at the screen before picking up.

‘_JT! Is everything- Are you alright?’_ Gil sounded appropriately worried. It was as if he was worried about so many things at once that he didn’t even know which one to ask about first. “Are you alright?” was a safe choice.

‘We’re both fine,’ JT said, with a loud exhale. ‘We got far enough before the bomb went of that none of us got hurt, but…’ JT took a quick glance at Bright’s kneeling form on the ground next to him, wrapped in an oversized jacket, spacing out, and he took a few steps away from him and spoke with a lower tone. ‘Bright froze up on me at the worst time. I literally had to pick him up and carry him out. I don’t know, man, it shouldn’t have happened, but he was just _staring_ at that body in the box…’

‘_What did you say?’_ Gil cut in. JT knew he’d heard him the first time.

‘There was a body, stuffed in this cooler,’ JT explained. ‘I found him standing over it, shaking like a leaf. Didn’t hear a word I said.’

Gil sighed on the other end, and there was a short pause.

‘_This is bad,_’ he said, finally. ‘_How is he now?’_

JT looked back at Bright, who was exactly like how he left him half a minute ago.

‘Shaken,’ he said. ‘I gave him my jacket. He did manage to squeeze out a “thanks,” so I guess that’s something… I mean, I can see how this is bad, but _how_ is this bad exactly?’

Gil made a few sounds, like he wanted to say something, thought better of it, started saying something else, then thought better of that as well.

‘_A body in the box is… Well, it’s one of his recurring nightmares,’ _he said, finally. ‘_I don’t want to get too much into it, but that’s all you need to know.’_

That was fine by him, he didn’t want to know more about the inner workings of Malcolm Bright’s mind than he absolutely needed to. And now he _did_ understand Bright’s reaction more. He walked back to him.

For as long as he’d known him, he’d struck him as a problem child, a little punk, a complete mess… And yes, he creeped him the hell out, but he was never threatening. Quite the opposite, in fact. Bright was one of the most fragile people he knew, but also the most stubborn.

He looked even smaller than usual, now, sitting on the ground, hunched over under JT’s jacket. It made him wonder, was that anything like what Gil saw in him twenty years ago on that fateful night?

Silence stretched out between them, but weirdly enough it didn’t feel awkward. It felt like there was a wordless understanding between them, an understanding that JT couldn’t provide the help that Bright needed at the moment, and that Bright didn’t need or want him to.

In the distance, the sound of sirens grew louder as the first few droplets of rain hit the ground around them. There was a weird serenity to it all, and JT found comfort in the sounds of the city and the feeling of the rain, reminding him that everything was still just like it had been before, and that maybe, everything was going to be alright.


End file.
